Red Sox Notes: Scutaro, Papelbon

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been rather busy at the winter GM meetings, writes Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. While the club has yet to make a move, Epstein is hopeful that something will soon come out of the trade talks that he has had.

Yesterday, we learned that teams are showing interest in shortstop Marco Scutaroand the club is willing to move him for the right return. The market for Scutaro is rapidly heating up as McAdam writes that six teams are in on the 35-year-old. Potential landing spots include St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Diego, and San Francisco if the Giants are unable to re-sign Juan Uribe. The Red Sox are seeking bullpen help in return for Scutaro, according to McAdam.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon will seek $11.5MM in arbitration, $2.15MM more than he earned in 2010, a major league source tells Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Papelbon is coming off of a down season in which he turned in career-highs in ERA (3.90) and BB/9 (3.8), though his 10.2 K/9 is consistent with his career average.

Funny story…You know how every duo of players (not every) have a certain handshake that is only theirs? Well Ondrusek and Herrera’s is Danny jumps up 12 inches and Ondrusek puts his hand up as high as he can and Herrera has to slap it. And it took him more than a jump when I saw them do it in person. I think they know eachother because both are from Texas. Ondrusek is from Shiner and Danny is from Odessa. From the Louisville people I talked to, both are missed there although Danny spent most of the season there.

Couple differences with Scuttaro and O-Cab. Scuttaro can hit and is not a club house disruptor. Both have about the same range and Scuttaro’s throwing errors *should* go down next year since he rested his injured shoulder over the off season. last year he could hardly raise it and at times not even move it above head level it was so bad, yet played anyway leading to most of his errors.

Scutaro has plenty of gap power and would hit at least as good at Cincy as he did at fenway would think, only reason think Boston would be willing to move him is if they think either Iglesias indeed is ready by the end of the year, Nishioka (spelling) is maybe on the radar, or hopefully youngster Lowrie is being penciled in as the 1 season SS warmer for the position before Iglesias gets the position FT, then Lowrie moves to super utility role.

Cabrera was far from a a clubhouse disruptor last year. His veteran prescence, along with Rolens was a huge factor for the Reds making the playoffs. Aside from that, the Reds aren’t gonna part ways with any of their young players unless it’s for an impact player.

Their content with Paul Janish anways. He may not be know for his offense but in 200 AB’s he had 5 HR 25 RBI .260 average and plays gold glove caliber defense. I’ll take Janish batting 8th anyday rather than trade some of our young pitchers for Scutaro. Sorry, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up as the Reds being trade partners.

They would trade Herrera for Scutaro in a hot second. He got shelled in the bigs last year. Ondrusek is a different story. I wouldn’t trade him for one year of scutaro because he has nasty stuff and is proving himself useful at a young age. I would send them Smith and Herrera

I wouldn’t trade for Scutaro in general. IMO it’s just not worth packaging Herrera up with any of our young RP’s. Janish will be fine. A frontline starter or LF who can either leadoff or protect Votto is what they need.

Whats the scouting report of these guys, never heard of them. They both had decent years last year, but haven’t quite proven that they could be a reliable reliever in the AL east. Are they former prospects or just supposed to be average guys?

Former prospects. Herrera came over with Volquez in the Hamilton deal, he had a solid ’09 but couldn’t get it going this year. Ondrusek was rookie this past season who made the roster out of spring training. He had a rough start, was sent down and came back up and finished the season strong. 3.68 ERA in 58.2 in, 20 BB 39 K

Giants have plenty of relievers to spare Romo or Casilla and throw in one or 2 of our minor league stable of pitchers, but I’d prefer to see them go after Hardy or Bartlett. Younger and cheaper unless you get the Sox to eat a chunk of Scutaro’s money

What about 2012? Is that an option for Scutaro or guaranteed? I was under the impression it was guaranteed, making it essentially a 2 yr deal worth 11-12 mil. At this time I think 1 year for a SS is best for the Giants, so we can take a look at Rohlinger and Crawford some more. But if ’12 is an option, then I wouldn’t mind

I was mistaken, for some reason I thought that 2012 was a straight 6 mil. That is reasonable, if he can stay healthy and get his defense back to 2008/2009 form, he would look good in orange and black. How much are the Sox looking for in return- maybe Santiago Casilla, Henry Sosa and Gino Espinelli?

He may not have as much experience as a set up guy, but Casilla was easily the Giants best reliever not named Brian Wilson this past year. He had one bad outing in October, but he was rock solid all year for us

hmm, the 5.96 era in 2009 scares me, but it looks like he was lights out this year all the way through the playoffs. i guess its probably worth it, i just remember him being an average guy on the Athletics though. Ramon Ramirez and Javier Lopez choked on the Red Sox, yet were great for the Giants, so who knows…

Watching the Giants all season, I have complete faith in both Casilla and Romo to be the set up guy, so one is expendable. Our pen is deep and we have some prospects who should be able to step in. Its a matter of style, Romo has better control and that nasty frisbee slider, while Casilla is a power pitcher who walks more guys but is a K machine

If the Giants were to trade for him it would mostl iikely be Casilla or possibly Affeldt who gets sent to Boston. Casilla has the better arm and more upside so its more likely him who would get dealt. However Scutaro shouldnt be someone that they trade for. JJ Hardy would be preferable to him. Better defender and younger. Still has gap power and in AT&T park those would turn into easy triples.

Someone that they should look into is Jose Reyes. They have some movable pieces and i dont think that it would cost them a lot to get him. The Mets have an in house replacement in Ruben Tejada so i could see maybe a deal with Casilla, Runzler, and maybe a low minors prospect getting it done.

It would give Reyes a fresh start out of NY and it would give SF a true leadoff hitter which they havent had in idk how long.

I am a fan of Hardy and would love to see us get him, or Bartlett, who should be a little cheaper that Hardy. But Scutaro is not the end of the world, definitely an option they should at least look into. I hadn’t thought about Reyes once the Mets picked up his option, it seemed like Alderson wanted to keep him around. I would love to get him to SF, but Reyes is still an elite player when healthy. If we could get him for Casilla, Runzler, Nick Noonan and Johnny Monell (or equivalent value prospect wise), I’d pull the trigger on that in a second

It seemed like Alderson picked up the option almost because he didnt really have much of a choice. Runzler, Casilla, Noonan/Gillaspie and one more should be close. Too bad Tim Alderson isnt still in the organization lol.

If that is too much for them then Bartlett or Hardy should be the next guys on the list. Bartlett for Casilla straight up could probably work since TB already has both Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac waiting and they need some young controllable bullpen arms with their entire late inning group hitting FA.

Its the rules of arbitration. Almost every player gets a raise no matter what. In your first year of arbitration, you make about 20% of your value. Second year: 40%. Third year: 60%. So Papelbon will likely increase from 9M to 11Mish

The arbitration system is something of a joke. Not just draft pick compensation, but the entire system that seems to think people deserve a raise for being a year older, regardless of whether or not they performed the same, better or worse. I understand baseball isn’t like any other job, but it’s a bit much.

Honest question: Technically a team can submit an arbitration figure 20% under a player’s previous year’s salary — but has it ever happened? If so, has it ever been upheld?

Sometimes we see a player released, sometimes they ultimately re-sign with the same club, but I can’t recall a situation, ever, where a lower salary was suggested much less awarded through arbitration. What’s the point in a system that does nothing but give players raises regardless of whether or not they deserved them?

Earlier you said to nontender him, which decision do you agree with??? The best option is tendering him a contract this year and the Sox have him for 1 year at about $11.5M. Then after 2011, he gets offered arbitration and obviously declines and becomes a free agent. The Sox then receive 2 draft picks from the team that he signs with. The option of nontending him gets you nothing.

meh, he put up a 4.14 ERA and 1.60 WHIP in the national league. What would he do against the yankees? i wouldn’t bother trading scutaro unless we’re getting a guy who can definitely handle the 7th/8th inning in Boston. Ramon Ramirez was lights out for the Giants, but when with the Sox he would curl up into a ball in any pressure situation, especially against the Yankees.

The only reason to trade him really would be if they think Lowrie can produce and they want to finally give him a chance. He doesn’t have tons of value because he really isn’t a lot better than slightly above average so you really wouldn’t be trading him hoping for a great return. Just my opinion though so I could be wrong, we’ll see I guess.

McClellan is a stud, and so he’s not exactly a prospect anymore. Doubt he’d get traded straight up for Scutaro. Maybe if the Sox took on a lot of salary and that allowed the Cards to pick up a RF/3B bat (Not quite Werth/Beltre level, but close). He’s 26 and still pretty cheap.

Motte has a great arm, just hasn’t mastered pitches yet. He’s 28. His fastball is upper 90’s. Maybe he’s hit 100 a time or two in his career, but it has a tendency to be pretty straight. That’s his only plus pitch currently. His slider is decent, just because it’s not his fastball. I saw him drop a curveball on a televised ST game once that made Wainwright’s look childish and the batter look downright pathetic. He threw it once more that game and it just spun up there, ending up 400+ feet away. There’s talent in that arm, but nothing really ready yet and he’s not quite there yet. This is the guy the Cards kept over Chris Perez, mind you.

Boggs is more developed than Motte, with a full assortment of pitches. His fb is about 96 out of the bullpen. He started out as a starter, but didn’t quite cut it. His fb averaged 94 as a starter. He probably has less talent than Motte, but is more polished.

Do people think a Scutaro deal for a reliever would happen relatively soon or after most of the free agent relievers sign? I think it makes more sense to see who we can sign first, then decide on making a trade. The only reason to trade Scutaro now is if its for a good young reliever because all the free agents are 30+ and looking for dough.

He made two long term deals, both for pitchers who are more than capable of performing in the 3/4 roles to which they’ll be assigned with Lester and Buchholz locked up for just as long. Everything else he did is essentially off the books after 2011. Including the signings from last year, the Sox will be shedding Ortiz, Drew, Papelbon and Cameron (Total of about $45 MM). That’s on top of Varitek, Lugo and Lowell all coming off the books this offseason. In addition to all of that, Scutaro’s salary would likely drop to about $3 million in 2012 if he actually sticks around. As it stands, the Sox don’t have a single player obligation going past 2014. How is all of that going to severely hamper him in the “long run?”

Players Theo should attempt to trade in order to get younger/cheaper/build a better bullpen:
Scutaro – replace with Lowrie
Cameron – replace with Kalish or a signing
Papelbon – replace with Bard
Matsuzaka – replace with Doubrount (difficulty: Dice-K has a no-trade contract)
Okajima – if he can’t be traded, non-tender him

I don’t think Theo can trade Cameron or Papelbon without picking up a large portion of their salaries. I’d just keep them with Cameron as the 4th outfielder. I think we should just non-tender Okajima. Trading Matsuzaka and Scutaro are real good ideas.

For what it is worth (not much to many), I think Scutaro is great. I loved watching him play with the Jays. He plays with heart and class, grinding day in and day out. Aside from coming off a career year, he landed that deal with the BoSox because he is better than most in very thin SS market.

Question for you REAL Boston Fans…..
The Brewers are talking about “signing” Rickie Weeks, and we know it won’t happen, would the Red Sox still be up for considering a Pedroia to short move? I know he’s said he’d do it, and that cat is a gamer, I know he could handle it. That would be a pretty good solution to your SS problem short/long term, plus you get a kid who can lead off with a .366 OPS, lead the league in lead off homers, 28, and is young. I have no idea what we’d require in the trade, he’s only got 1 yr left before FA, but he’s been talking about wanting to be locked up before FA, so who knows?
Not sure what ya’ll think of that, but it’s worth an ask right??

I don’t think there’s any chance we would move Pedroia to SS. Plus, we do have a top prospect Iglesias coming up soon who is supposed to be unbelievable at defense. I think the sox would be interested in Weeks if he could handle 3B though

I don’t know why anyone would think the Red Sox have a “SS problem”. They have a quality starter in Scutaro and a strong back-up in Lowrie (who can also back up at the other IF spots) and, as others have mentioned, a top prospect who’ll be ready in a year or so. Now, they DO have a bullpen problem, a catcher problem, a 3B problem and an OF production problem. Let’s solve those!